lecturers strikes comes to an end,studies expected to resume on monday

At long last, the long lecturers’ strike in public universities which has completely disrupted the University academic calendar and activities threatening to see the semester suspended until next semester has come to an end.

After a fruitful meeting with the universities, the Lecturers union bosses met for a fruitful meeting which has seen the strike come to an end and lectures meant to resume next week in all public universities across the country.

University students are therefore required that they go back to their respective universities and get ready for the semester.There have been speculations of public universities being forced to suspend the semester due to the prolonged strike as other students sort to go home due to idleness in their universities.

The Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) has agreed to harmonize the salaries and house allowances as was demanded by UASU,” said one of the universities management teams, who attended the meeting. This means that learning could resume as early as next week should NEC adopt the developments and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is signed during the Monday meeting. Lecturers early this week set fresh conditions for accepting or rejecting the new salary offer – of 16.8 per cent and 19.5 per cent – given to them by public universities.

In a letter addressed to IPUCCF, lecturers said they will only accept the new proposals, if salary and house allowance for all staff is harmonised. UASU said that academic staff at Maasai Mara University are paid higher salaries compared to the rest of the staff in other public universities. Lecturers are now waiting for a reworked calculations from the universities side that factors in their proposal to enable them make an informed decision,” said a union official.

 Lecturers in public universities have also proved prudent and wise after ending their strike in a prudent manner and engaging in a fruitful negotiation with their employers and the ministry. University students in public universities should be waiting for an official memo requesting them to go back to their respective universities in the coming week so as to resume their studies.